There are the original records of the Paris-London Club loans?
Some of the records are not traceable, as most of the states have none.
Besides, the Federal Government intervened in the rescheduling of some of the loans. Some of the states do not have details of such rearranged obligations, a source said yesterday.
But this will not stop the presidential order that states should have $6.9 billion refund to lessen their salary arrears burden.
The Federal Government is verifying the $6.9billion refund, which the states are claiming as over deductions from their allocations, for repayment of the loan.
That the records are missing has made the ongoing verification and reconciliation of the loans difficult.
It was also learnt that since the reconciliation started in 1990, the timeline has affected the exercise over the years. Some of the desk officers have either retired or resigned from office.
But the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Debt Management Office (DMO) and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) are working round the clock with the states and the creditors to collate the figures.
The loss of the original records of the loans was uncovered by the committee raised by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Committee on Over Deduction of Foreign Loan Obligations from States, which examined claims by the states for the refund of over deduction on the Paris Club and London Club debts recommended that states requests for refund should be considered.
“Accordingly, all State Governments which have claims for the refund of over deductions on Paris Club and London Club debts should submit applications for refund attaching all relevant documents in support of the claims to the office of the Honourable Minister of Finance, with a copy to the Debt Management Office (DMO) for appropriate action,” the committee said in its recommendation.
Such substantiated claims should be submitted with documents not later than August 31, 2016, it said, adding:
“Upon receipt of the claims, the DMO in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation will conduct an assessment, validation and reconstruction of the historic debt data of the claiming States, using evidence submitted by the State to match the data available in the DMO’s system, and advise Mr. President of the outcome for His further directives.
“In the past several attempts had been made by the Federal Government at determining the true position of State’s External Debt Obligations.
“We have on record the result of the various attempts at reconciliation starting with the reconciliation of Paris Club Debt in January 1990, Reconciliation of External Loan – on-Lent and Reschedule Loans in February 1995 and other efforts in 2001, 2005 and 2007.
“Over time the Bilateral Loans i.e. Paris Club and London Club Obligations have been renegotiated, rescheduled and re-arranged hence the original identities of these loans were lost in the process.
“These rescheduled loans were arranged by the Federal Government hence the States were not in the know of the details of the re-arranged obligations.”
A source involved in the reconciliation said: “Some of the records of these loans cannot be traced. Most states also did not keep proper records.
“This is why the DMO said it will need two years to do a proper reconciliation but the state governors said they cannot wait.
“We went deep to get the loan data from the CBN, OAGF, RMAFC, Funds Department and DMO. Every agency gave data which were conflicting.”
The source spoke of the anxiety of paying states more than they actually deserve. “We will all however learn from this on how to keep records,” he said, pleading not to be named because he is not allowed to talk on the matter.
A former Military Governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (retd.) yesterday urged President Buhari to suspend the refund to states and the Federal Capital Territory(FCT).
He said some governors contracted consultants with fees ranging from 10 to 30 per cent to secure the refund.
Umar gave the advice in a statement in Abuja against the backdrop of the controversy over loan refund to states.
States are demanding about $6.9billion deductions from the Federal Government.
Col. Umar said: “It is now revealed that some governors contracted consultants with fees ranging from 10 to 30 per cent to secure refund from the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN).
“With this shocking revelation, President Muhammadu Buhari should suspend his order to the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the release of the second tranche of the refund.
“It is also evident now that most of the earlier released funds were deployed for other purposes than payment of salaries and pension arrears as directed by Mr. President. This impunity has got to stop.”
